James Wisniewski, 29, is an eight-year NHL veteran, a self-described ex-playboy who has seen and done much in a career that has included stops with five teams.

Ryan Murray, 20, is a rookie, a soft-spoken, acoustic guitar-strumming kid whose major junior billet called him “so modest, it hurts.”

They seem unlikely partners, but they “might be our best pair (of defensemen),” Blue Jackets coach Todd Richards said. Wisniewski is a point-producing power player. Murray is his smooth-as-butter straight man.

Wisniewski has two goals and 11 assists and is tied for the team lead in points with center Brandon Dubinsky. Murray ranks second on the team with a plus-3 rating and is fifth in average ice time (18:06).

They have been paired together, mostly uninterrupted, since the first days of training camp, mainly because the Jackets wanted to keep Jack Johnson paired with Fedor Tyutin and Dalton Prout paired with Nikita Nikitin based on how those duos played last season.

“It was almost by default, somewhat,” Richards said. “Now, they’ve turned out to be our most consistent pair night in and night out.”

Combined, Wisniewski and Murray have four goals, 12 assists and a plus-1 rating on a team with a minus-6 goal differential. The team’s current top six defensemen are a combined minus-18.

“Ryan has come in and done a good job, and I think you have to give Wiz some credit there,” Richards said. “I think Wiz, as far as the high risk that was in his game previously, is gone. I think you have to credit Ryan with a lot of that and also Wiz, because you have to make a choice to play a certain way.”

Wisniewski said he felt a connection with Murray, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2012 NHL draft, in their first days together.

“I’ve been saying it since — he’s beyond his years with his puck management and his poise, and that’s huge,” Wisniewski said. “He’s playing like a seasoned veteran, and he’s only going to get better.”

Wisniewski likened his relationship with Murray to that of his with Scott Niedermayer when Wisniewski was the veteran Niedermayer’s stay-at-home partner with the Anaheim Ducks.

“I wouldn’t say he’s a safety valve,” Wisniewski said of the rarely flappable Murray. “It’s just how we fit the game. It’s like how Niedermayer talked to me, and positioned me, and taught me to read his body language. I’ve tried to do the same, and it’s come pretty quick. I talk to him a lot, and he’s a very smart kid.”

Their partnership has allowed Wisniewski to excel at what he is expected to do best, which is to feed his forwards and send right-handed shots toward the opposing net. Effective shooting, Richards said, is one of the Jackets’ greatest weaknesses, but Wisniewski has been an exception.

“He’s gotten some points this year just based on getting pucks to a certain area of the ice or getting it toward the net to create rebounds or deflections,” Richards said. “(R.J. Umberger’s) goal in the third period (Saturday in a 5-2 win over the New York Islanders) was the perfect example of that. Wiz wasn’t shooting it hard. He was just getting it there, and R.J. was able to get the deflection.”

Murray has been impressed with Wisniewski’s vision — “he sees a lot of plays that not many people see,” he said — but said their collective game is a simple one.

Keeping himself ready for the rigors of an NHL schedule has been more challenging than anything Murray has done on the ice.

“Stuff like eating is a big thing,” Murray said. “In junior, there was a pizza joint across the street, and half the team would be over there. You’d get a couple slices and a Coke after every single practice.”

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